THE  LOAN  BILL. 


SPEECH  ,  // Ho  hi ■ 

OF  /  f  '  /'  ‘ 

HON.  HENRY  NIC01L,  OF  NEW  YORK, 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  FEBRUARY  15,  1848, 


In  Committee  of  the  Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  on  the  Bill  to  authorize  a  Loan  not 
exceeding  eighteen  million  five  hundred  thousand  Dollars . 

i 


Mr.  NICOLL  said: 

Mr.  Chairman:  It  is  with  no  little  embarrass¬ 
ment  that  I  rise  to  address  the  committee  on  the 
important  subject  now  under  discussion.  Had  I 
consulted  my  personal  feelings  in  the  matter,  I 
should  have  abstained  from  any  participation  in 
the  debate;  but  as  a  member  of  the  committee  from 
which  this  bill  has  emanated,  and  more  than  all,  as 
one  of  the  representatives  of  the  commercial  me¬ 
tropolis  of  the  country — a  city  sensitively  alive  to 
all  legislation  in  relation  to  the  national  finances, 
and  deeply  interested  in  having  the  action  of  Con¬ 
gress  in  this  respect  discreet  and  proper,  and  regu¬ 
lated  in  such  manner  as  to  interfere  as  little  as 
ossible  with  the  monetary  affairs  of  the  country — 
have  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  offer  to  the  commit¬ 
tee  the. vie.M^  which  I  entertain  in  regard  to  the 
best  mode  of  fiegotiating  the  proposed  loan,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  express  my  entire  dissent  from 
the  bill  Its  reported  by  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means. 

The  President,  in  his  annual  message  commu¬ 
nicated  at  the  opening  of  Congress,  has  recom¬ 
mended  the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the 
Government  to  borrow  the  sum  of  eighteen  and  a 
half  millions  of  dollars,  of  which  fifteen  and  a  half 
millions  are  to  supply  a  deficiency  then  estimated 
at  that  amount  at  the  close  of  the  present  fiscal 
year,  and  of  which  the  remainder — three  millions 
—is  for  the  necessary  reserve,  to  be  kept  constantly 
in  the  treasury.  The  President  has  recommended 
that  this  loan  should  be  issued  under  the  same 
provisions  and  restrictions  as  have  been  enacted  in 
regard  to  the  twenty-three  million  loan  of  the  last 
session — that  is,  by  the  issue  of  treasury  notes, 
fundable  at  the  option  of  the  holder  in  a  six  percent, 
stock,  redeemableat  the  expiration  of  twenty  years. 
For  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the  negotiation  of 
this  loan,  to  strengthen  the  credit  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment,  and  to  add  to  its  revenues,  it  has  been  further 
recommended  by  the  Executive,  that  a  tax  of 
twenty-five  per  cent,  ad  valorem  should  be  imposed 
on  all  tea  and  coffee  to  be  imported  into  the  coun¬ 
try.  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  his  annual 
report  to  Congress  on  the  state  of  the  finances,  has 
earnestly  united  in  these  recommendations.  'For 
reasons  which  are  well  known,  we  have  been  offi¬ 
cially  apprized  that  the  amount  which  was  sup¬ 
planted  at  the  Congressional  Globe  Office. 


posed  at  the  opening  of  Congress  to  be  necessary 
may  be  reduced  to  sixteen  millions  of  dollars. 
This  is  the  plan  of  the  Administration,  and  is  re¬ 
garded  by  their  friends  as  the  only  one  which  ought 
to  be  adopted.  It  has  met,  however — and  this  per¬ 
haps  was  to  be  expected — with  no  favor  in  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means.  They  have  de¬ 
liberately  rejected  it,  and  in  lieu  thereof  have  pro¬ 
posed  a  simple  loan  of  sixteen  millions  of  dollars 
in  a  six  per  cent,  stock,  redeemable  after  twenty 
years^  and  not  to  be  negotiated  under  par.  The 
minority  of  the  committee  have  imbodifed  the  sug- 
gestionsof  the  President  in  the  substitute  reported 
by  them,  with  an  additional  provision,  restricting 
the  amount  of  treasury  notes  at  any  time  outstand¬ 
ing,  under  all  acts,  to  twenty  millions  of  dollars. 
Of  this  last  provision,  I  propose  to  speak  hereafter. 
It  is  between  these  two  plans  of  finance  that  the 
committee  is  now  to  choose. 

I  confess,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  expected  to  have 
heard  from  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means,  [Mr.  Vinton,]  when  he  opened 
this  debate  a  few  days  ago,  a  full  exposition  of  the 
reasons  which  had  induced  the  committee  to  give 
their  preference  to  the  bill  reported  by  him.  The 
minority  of  this  House  and  the  Government,  after 
its  deliberate  recommendation  of  a  plan  for  the  rais¬ 
ing  of  this  money,  which  seemed  to  them  feasible, 
had  a  right  to  hear  the  reasons  for  its  rejection,  and 
the  substitution  of  another  so  different  from  their 
own.  Such  a  course  was  due  to  this  House  and  the 
country.  Has  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  given,  or  even  attempted  to  give, 
any  such  explanation  ?  I  regret  to  say  he  has  not. 
So  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  understand  the  re¬ 
marks  of  that  gentleman,  I  believe  I  may  safely 
assert  that  not  a  single  reason  has  been  urged  by 
him  for  this  rejection  of  the  plan  of  the  Adminis¬ 
tration.  He  seems,  on  the  contrary,  to  have  care¬ 
fully  avoided  the  subject,  and  has  assiduously 
occupied  himself  in  endeavoring  to  show  that  egre¬ 
gious  errors  had  been  committed  in  estimating  the 
deficiency  in  the  treasury  on  the  1st  of  July  next 
at  only  sixteen  millions  of  dollars.  I  must  be  per¬ 
mitted  to  say  that,  in  my  judgment,  these  errors  are 
highly  exaggerated  in  his  remarks;  and  that  it 
would  have  been  far  wiser  on  the  part  of  the  hon¬ 
orable  chairman  of  the  committee,  had  he,  instead 


2 


of  this  labored  attempt  to  magnify  the  extent  of  our 
financial  wants,  availed  himself  of  his  conceded 
ability  to  defend  the  course  intended  to  be  pursued 
by  the  majority  in  respect  to  this  loan.  Nothing 
can  be  more  calculated  to  embarrass  the  Govern¬ 
ment  in  the  raising  of  money  than  to  have  it  go 
forth  to  the  world  that  we  are  so  straitened  in 
our  finances,  as  the  chairman  of  the  committee  has 
attempted  to  show.  No  better  plan  could  be  de¬ 
vised  to  alarm  the  capitalists  of  the  country  than 
that  which  has  been  followed  by  my  honorable 
friend.  Deeming  the  course  taken  by  him  in  this 
respect  of  most  pernicious  tendency,  I  will  now 
proceed  to  review  his  statements  in  respect  to  what 
he  calls  the  errors  in  the  estimates  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury;  and  in  doing  so,  will  endeavor  to 
show  how  untenable  are  his  positions,  and  vindi¬ 
cate  the  correctness  of  thecourse  taken  by  the  head 
of  the  financial  department  of  the  Government. 

I  shall  maintain,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  the  Sec¬ 
retary  of  the  Treasury,  in  recommending  a  loan  of 
sixteen  millions  of  dollars,  has  asked  for  as  much 
as  will  be  necessary  to  provide  ample  means  in  the 
treasury  up  to  the  first  day  of  July  next.  The 
first  charge  made  by  the  chairman  of  the  commit¬ 
tee  is,  that  the  receipts  of  the  fiscal  year  ending  on 
the  thirtieth  day  of  June  last,  were  largely  over¬ 
estimated  in  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  made  at  the  opening  of  the  last  ses¬ 
sion  of  Congress;  and  that  at  the  same  time  the 
expenses  of  the  Government,  for  the  like  period, 
were  estimated  greatly  under  their  real  amount. 
This  might  be  admitted  without  in  any  manner 
detracting  from  the  judgment  or  accuracy  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  without  advancing 
the  argument  of  the  chairman  of  the  committee  a 
single  step;  for,  in  asking  for  this  new  loan,  and  in 
estimating  the  deficiency  which  it  is  intended  to 
supply,  full  allowance  has  been  made  for  this  dif¬ 
ference  between  the  realities  and  the  estimates  of 
the  past  year.  But,  sir,  under  what  circumstances 
were  these  estimates  of  receipts  made?  The  new 
tariff  act  was  about  going  into  operation,  and  how 
long  it  would  be  before  its  beneficial  effects  upon  the 
revenues  would  be  felt,  no  one  could  calculate  with 
precision.  The  vast  exportation  of  our  produce 
which  has  taken  place  in  the  last  year  was  just  then 
commencing,  and  its  magnitude  was  fully  counted 
upon.  But  who  could  have  anticipated  that  so  great 
a  portion  of  its  avails  asnearly  twenty-three  millions 
of  dollars  would  have  been  returned  in  coin  instead 
of  the  dutiable  articles  of  Europe  ?  The  importation 
of  so  large  an  amount  of  specie  was  fortunate  in 
the  extreme,  for  it  has  flowed  into  those  portions 
of  the  country  in  which  the  chief  part  of  the  bread- 
stuffs  exported  had  been  produced,  restoring  to  the 
people  a  sound  currency,  and  bringing  to  them  in¬ 
creased  prosperity.  The  estimates  of  the  expenses 
of  the  Government  were  made  for  a  state  of  war — 
a  war,  Mr.  Chairman,  where  the  theatre  of  action 
was  at  least  two  thousand  miles  distant,  to  which 
large  numbers  of  troops  were  to  be  transported,  at 
a  vast  expense,  and  under  circumstances  that  it 
was  impossible  to  foresee  and  appreciate.  No  hu¬ 
man  being  should  be  held  liable  for  the  accuracy 
of  estimates  made  upon  data  so  necessarily  imper¬ 
fect.  When  we  add  to  all  this  the  large  number 
of  subsequent  appropriations  made  during  the  ses¬ 
sion  of  Congress,  for  which  no  estimates  could  have 
been  legally  or  properly  made,  we  shall  cease  to 
wonder  that  the  expenses  of  the  last  fiscal  year 


have  overrun  the  estimates  of  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury.  The  estimates  of  these  expenditures, 
it  must  have  been  fully  known  to  all  parties,  could, 
under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  have  been  but 
an  approximation  to  th£  reality.  And  although 
now  it  js  an  easy  matter  to  ascertain  the  difference, 
and  to  complacently  dwell  upon  it  as  a  misfortune, 
what  gentleman  is  there  on  the  other  side  who 
would  not,  in  case  the  Government  had  asked  at 
the  last  session  of  Congress  for  a  loan  of  forty  mil¬ 
lions  of  dollars,  as  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
thinks  ought  to  have  been  done,  warmly  have  con¬ 
demned  such  a  course  as  unnecessary,  and  as  inju¬ 
rious  to  the  best  interests  of  the  country?  The 
chairman  of  the  committee  seems  to  think  that  a 
loan  for  that  amount  could  then  as  easily  have 
been  negotiated  as  one  for  twenty-three  millions 
of  dollars;  and,  in  support  of  this  conclusion,  states 
that  the  offers  for  that  loan,  at  the  time  that  propos¬ 
als  were  invited,  exceeded  in  the  aggregate  the 
sum  of  fifty  millions  of  dollars.  It  is  a  well  known 
fact,  that  the  highest  offers  for  the  great  bulk  of 
that  loan,  and  which  were  accepted,  were  made  at 
but  a  small  fraction  above  par;  and  this,  too,  at  a 
time  when  the  country  was  in  a  high  state  of  pros¬ 
perity.  I  ask  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means  whether  he  really  thinks  that 
even  par  could  have  been  obtained  for  the  loan  had 
the  amount  thrown  upon  the  market  been  so  large¬ 
ly  increased  as  he  contends  it  ought  to  have  been? 
I  ask  him,  in  all  candor,  whether  the  simple  fact, 
that  the  offers  for  this  loan  so  much  exceeded  the 
amount  to  be  disposed  of,  furnishes  any  evidence 
that  there  was  then  an  amount  of  capital  equal  to 
the  aggregate  of  said  offers,  or  anything  like  it, 
seeking  investment?  Sir,  the  individuals  who  of¬ 
fered  for  this  loan  were  not,  to  any  extent,  capital¬ 
ists.  They  were  legitimately  operating,  and  not 
for  investment,  but  for  profit.  They  all  were 
aware  that  but  twenty-three  millions  were  to  be 
disposed  of,  and  they  desired  to  be  the  means 
through  which  the  whole  amount  of  the  loan  might 
be  gradually  absorbed  into  the  capital  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  It  is,  in  my  judgment,  a  complete  fallacy  to 
argue,  from  the  number  and  amount  of  these  bids, 
that  a  greater  sum  could  have  been  disposed  of 
than  has  actually  been  negotiated.  It  would,  Mr. 
Chairman,  have  been,  in  my  opinion,  in  the  high¬ 
est  degree  mischievous  to  have  asked,  at  the  period 
referred  to,  for  so  great  a  loan  as  forty  millions  of 
dollars.  There  was  nothing,  then,  in  the  financial 
state  of  the  country  to  indicate  any  diminution  in 
our  prosperity.  Our  trade  was  healthy  in  all  its 
branches,  and  we  had  no  reason  to  anticipate  a  re¬ 
verse.  Great  Britain  had  not  then  commenced 
her  desperate  struggle  to  turn  the  exchanges  in 
her  favor  by  any  means  and  at  any  cost.  Every¬ 
thing  denoted  a  continuance  of  the  favorable  state 
of  things  then  existing.  For  these  reasons,  I  do 
not  see  how  any  censure  is  to  be  laid  upon  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  not  asking  for  an 
amount  greater  than  he  was  fully  justified  in  sup¬ 
posing  the  Government  would  require. 

But  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways 
and  Means  has  not  confined  his  attacks  to  sup¬ 
posed  errors  in  the  estimates  of  the  past  year.  He 
has  assailed  with  equal,  perhaps  greafer  vigor, 
those  which  have  been  made  by  the  Secretary  for 
the  present  fiscal  year.  Here,  at  least,  he  ima¬ 
gines  he  is  upon  impregnable  ground;  and  yet,  Mr. 
Chairman,  I  am  satisfied  that  even  here  my  hon- 


3 


orable  friend  is  equally  in  fault.  He  professes  to  be 
entirely  confident  that  the  receipts  into  the  treasury 
for  the  present  year  will  fall  at  least  five  millions 
short  of  the  estimates.  We  are  not,  of  course, 
entitled  to  expect  from  the  other  side  any  willing 
concessions  as  to  the  beneficial  effects  of  our  pres¬ 
ent  revenue  tariff.  Their  feelings  and  prejudices 
against  this  great  measure  of  the  Administration 
need  no  illustration  from  me.  It  is  in  proper  keep¬ 
ing  with  their  policy  to  underrate,  as  much  as 
possible,  the  amount  of  revenues  which  we  are  to 
receive  from  the  customs.  But,  sir,  what  grounds 
are  there  for  charging  the  Secretary  with  any  errors 
in  estimating  these  receipts  at  thirty-one  millions 
of  dollars,  as  has  been  done  by  him  ?  The  returns 
thus  far,  for  the  current  year,  give  no  such  indi¬ 
cation;  on  the  contrary,  they  fully .  warrant  the 
belief  that  those  estimates  of  receipts  are  not,  in 
any  degree,  exaggerated: 

The  receipts  from  customs  for  the  first  quarter  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  year  were . ■ . $  11,106,257 

For  the  same  quarter  last  year  .  8,153,626 

Increase . ■. .  3,952,431 

The  receipts  for  the  second  quarter  of  this  year 

were .  5,337,879 

For  the  same  quarter  last  year .  3,641,192 

Increase .  1,695,687 

Total  increase  for  the  two  quarters .  5,649.1 18 


If  the  increase  for  the  remaining  quarters  of  the 
present  year  should  be  at  a  similar  rate,  the  whole 
amount  of  increase,  at  the  end  of  the  year,  will  be 
$11,298,236;  and  the  revenues  from  the  customs 
would  thus  yield  an  amount  exceeding  thirty-five 
millions  of  dollars.  Again:  if  no  greater  amount 
shall  be  realized  from  customs  in  the  remaining 
quarters  of  the  present  year  than  was  obtained  in 
the  corresponding  quarters  of  the  past  year,  the 
whole  amount  received  would  be  $33,356,984.  It 
will  be  perceived  that,  even  upon  this  hypothesis, 
there  will  be  an  excess  of  nearly  $2,500,000  in  the 
receipts  over  the  estimates  of  the  Secretary  for  the 
current  year.  That  this  ratio  of  increase  is  still 
going  on,  we  are  fully  justified  in  asserting.  The 
receipts  for  duties  at  the  custom-houseat  New  York 
for  the  month  of  January  last,  were  $2,305,017 — 
being  an  increase  of  $870,181  over  the  same  month 
last  year;  while,  in  the  first  ten  days  of  the  present, 
month,  the  receipts  at  the  same  custom-house  were 
$1,028,549 — showing  an  increase  over  the  receipts 
for  the  same  period,  in  February  of  the  last  year, 
of  $505,404;  and  the  indications  would  seem  to  be 
abundant  that  this  large  ratio  of  increase  will  be 
sustained  to  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year. 

The  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means  does  not  seem  inclined  to  take  issue  with 
the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  respect  to  the 
estimate  of  receipts  for  the  sales  of  public  lands 
during  the  present  year,  although  he.  is  a  little  dis¬ 
posed  to  question  its  accuracy.  The  actual  re¬ 
ceipts  from  this  source  in  the  last  fiscal  year,  were 
$2,493,355  20.  The  Secretary  has  estimated  them 
for  the  present  year  at  $3,500,000;  and  the  returns 
which  have  thus  far  been  made  fully  sustain  him 
in  this  estimate.  The  receipts  from  this  source, 
for  one-half  of  the  current  year,  are  $1,805,778, 
which  will  admit  of  a  considerable* decline  in  the 
rates  of  increase  in  the  remaining  two  quarters  of 
the  year  without  the  revenues  from  this  source 


falling  below  the  estimated  amount.  But  it  may 
be  said,  on  the  other  side,  that  a  considerable  dim¬ 
inution  in  these  receipts  is  likely  to  be  produced 
by  the  warrants  for  bounty  lands,  issued  to  our 
soldiers  under  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  the  last 
session.  Some  such  effect  may  be  produced  by 
this  cause,  although  it  is  not  yet  apparent;  but  any 
deficiency  thus  arising  will,  I  believe,  be  nearly 
if  not  fully  made  up  by  the  increase  in  the  immi¬ 
gration  to  the  country  from  Europe.  It  is  con¬ 
tended,  however,  and  with  great  earnestness  by 
the  chairman  of  the  committee,  that  the  receipts 
from  the  sales  of  public  lands  are  wholly  un¬ 
available  to  the  treasury  at  present,  except  so  far 
as  may  be  necessary  to  pay  the  interest  on  twenty- 
eight  millions  of  the  national  debt,  for  which  pay¬ 
ment,  and  the  reimbursement  of  the  principal,  the 
whole  amount  of  these  receipts  is  solemnly  pledged. 
Sir,  I  am  not  disposed  to  deny  the  solemn  obliga¬ 
tion  of  this  pledge.  I  only  hope  that  we  may  act 
with  equal  honor  and  integrity  in  providing  for  the 
redemption  of  the  loan  which  we  are  now  about  to 
authorize.  The  chairman  of  the  committee,  how¬ 
ever,  is,  I  think,  clearly  in  error  in  supposing  that 
any  sinking  fund  is  directed  to  be  established  out  of 
the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public  lands  for  such 
redemption.  If  the  stocks  cannot  be  purchased  in 
the  market  at  their  par  value,  the  Secretary  has  no 
authority  under  the  law  to  make  any  other  invest¬ 
ment  of  the  money  for  the  benefit  of  the  loan.  It 
must  remain  in  the  treasury,  to  be  used  only  upon 
the  contingency  above  named.  So  long,  then,  as 
the  credit  of  the  Government  is  sustained  and  these 
stocks  are  above  par,  the  surplus  proceeds  of  the 
sale  of  the  public  lands  may,  and  indeed  must, 
remain  in  the  treasury,  and  may  be  made  available 
as  a  portion  of  the  permanent  reserve  or  deposit  of 
three  millions,  required  to  be  kept  there.  In  doing 
so,  the  pledge  would  not  be  violated,  for  the  money 
would  not  be  appropriated  or  expended. 

In  the  remarks  of  the  chairman  of  the  commit¬ 
tee  upon  the  estimates  of  expenditures  for  the 
present  year,  I  do  not  understand  that  it  is  assert¬ 
ed  by  him  that  we  have  not  now  before  us  full 
statements  of  the  amount  of  those  expenses;  or 
that  there  is  any  probability  of  further  additions 
to  them,  save  in  a  single  instance.  The  point  made 
by  the  gentleman  is,  that  the  Government  is  cen¬ 
surable  for  not  having  presented  an  estimate  at  the 
opening  of  the  last  session  of  Congress  of  the 
whole  amount  which  it  is  now  ascertained  was  ac¬ 
tually  wanted.  I  think,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  have 
already  given  sufficient  reasons  why  this  could  not 
be  done.  It  was  impossible,  from  the  very  nature 
of  the  case,  as  every  gentleman  on  the  other  side 
of  the  House  must  know,  or  ought  to  know.  No 
one  dares  to  charge  the  Government  with  a  want 
of  good  faith  in  this  matter.  The  estimates  were 
presented  by  the  Heads  of  Departments,  acting 
under  a  sound  discretion,  and  in  the  conscientious 
discharge  of  important  duties.  It  seems  to  me, 
when  we  turn  to  consider  what  has  beeen  achieved 
in  this  war,  how  many  obstacles  have  been  over¬ 
come  and  under  what  disadvantages,  and  how 
many  glorious  battles  have  been  won,  it  is  hardly 
worth  our  while  to  criticise  too  nicely  the  accuracy 
of  estimates  for  operations  so  extended  in  i heir 
nature,  and  so  successful  in  their  results.  But  the 
Secretary  of  War  is  arraigned  for  the  course  taken 
in  relation  to  the  estimates  of  the  Quartermaster 
General,  which  resulted  in  their  being  reduced  by 


4 


that  officer  in  the  sum  of  $2,860,000.  Here  is,  > 
in  fact,  the  strongest  point  upon  which  the  gentle¬ 
man  relies.  It  will  be  well  remembered  how  ably 
it  was  elaborated  by  him;  how  nicely  and  curious¬ 
ly  every  word  in  the  letter  of  the  Quartermaster 
General  to  the  Secretary  of  War  was  weighed  and 
commented  upon,  and  some  hidden  meaning,  some 
want  of  confidence  in  the  accuracy  of  his  own  es¬ 
timates,  attempted  to  be  wrung  from  the  guarded 
language  of  the  letter.  Like  Iago  in  the  play,  my 
honorable  friend  “  is  nothing  if  not  critical;”  and 
he  thinks  that  he  has  here  found  sufficient  reason 
to  sustain  him  in  his  position.  Sir,  I  admit  that 
the  language  of  the  Quartermaster  General  is  suf¬ 
ficiently  cautious;  but  I  affirm  that  it  does  not 
authorize  the  inference  that  the  estimate  for  the  de¬ 
ficiencies  of  the  present  year  in  his  department  is 
under  the  amount  which  wiil  be  actually  required. 
It  would  not  have  been  consistent  with  the  safety 
of  the  public  interests  to  have  made  known  some 
of  the  important  grounds  upon  which  he  has  been 
able  to  reduce  this  estimate.  It  is  sufficient  for 
me  that  the  Secretary  of  War  has  assented  to  this  , 
reduction,  and  has  assumed  its  responsibility.  I 
doubt  not  the  step  has  been  taken  by  him  with  de¬ 
liberation.  I  am  willing  to  give  it  my  full  reliance, 
for  I  know  that  his  information  on  the  subject 
must  be  far  more  accurate  and  extensive  than  any 
that  we  can  obtain. 

But,  sir,  admitting,  if  you  choose,  that  in  these 
estimates  of  expenditure,  deficiencies  to  some  ex¬ 
tent  are  necessarily  to  be  found,  may  we  not  count 
upon  receiving  from  Mexico  far  more  than  suffi¬ 
cient  to  counterbalance  them?  That  unhappy  and 
heretofore  distracted  country  may,  I  believe,  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  practically  in  our  possession.  We  know 
its  resources  and  its  wealth.  Will  they  not,  under  . 
returning  order  and  good  government,  be  largely 
increased  ?  Firmly  believing  that  the  policy  of  this 
Government  in  respect  to  Mexico  will  be  wise  and 
liberal,  and  that  under  its  protecting  care,  quiet  and 
confidence  and  harmony  will  appear  in  places 
where  they  have  so  long  been  strangers,  I  have 
every  reason  to  hope  that  the  revenues  which  may 
be  collected  by  us  in  that  country  will  be  far  greater 
than  any  one  has  thus  far  ventured  to  anticipate. 

I  have  seen  estimates  which  are  to  a  sufficient  ex¬ 
tent  reliable,  putting  the  total  revenues  of  the  Mex¬ 
ican  Government  at  twelve  millions  of  dollars. 
Sir,  if  we  can  collect  but  one-half,  or  even  a  quar¬ 
ter  of  this  amount,  we  shall  sensibly  relieve  our 
own  finances.  I  maintain  that  these  contributions, 
sanctioned  as  they  are  by  the  settled  principles  of 
the  law  of  nations,  are  in  no  respect  unjust  or 
improper.  It  is  not  a  scheme  of  plunder  or  pil¬ 
lage,  that  has  been  devised  by  the  Government,  as 
has  been  charged  upon  them.  In  directing  these 
contributions,  they  have  aimed  to  make  the  Mexi¬ 
can  people  know  and  feel  the  burdens  of  this  war, 
which  they  have  so  long  and  unreasonably  pro¬ 
tracted ;  but,  sir,  other  effects  will  flow  from  this 
system.  The  people  of  Mexico  will  be  taught  to 
learn  the  benefits  of  a  wise  and  discreet  govern¬ 
ment.  Their  revenues,  heretofore  squandered 
amongst  corrupt  men,  will  now  be  applied  to  their 
legitimate  use — the  preservation  of  order,  and  the 
protection  of  trade  and  commerce.  The  result  will, 
in  my  judgment,  not  only  recruit  the  military 
chests  of  our  army,  but  it  will  bring  great  and  sub¬ 
stantial  benefits  to  the  people  of  Mexico  them¬ 
selves. 


Mr.  Chairman,  I  have  not  time  to  follow  the 
honorable  chairman  of  the  committee  in  his  gloomy 
speculations  as  to  our  financial  wants  in  the  com¬ 
ing  year.  His  forebodings  in  this  respect  I  deem 
to  be  as  unfounded  as  they  are  prejudicial.  We 
are  not  now  legislating  for  a  future,  but  for  an  ex¬ 
isting  real  and  ascertained  deficiency  in  our  rev¬ 
enues.  It  is  true,  the  probabilities  are  at  present 
in  favor  of  the  necessity  of  a  further  loan  in  the 
next  fiscal  year;  but  what  may  not  occur  before 
we  shall  be  called  upon  to  consider  it  in  this 
House?  We  may  even  now  be  on  the  eve  of 
peace  with  Mexico.  An  event  so  auspicious  would 
at  once,  of  itself,  remove  every  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  negotiating  the  credit  of  the  Government  to  any 
amount  that  might  be  required  to  relieve  its  wants. 
Besides,  too,  Mr.  Chairman,  we  shall,  before  this 
loan  can  be  required,  know  more  fully  the  extent 
to  which  we  shall  be  able  to  draw  revenues  from 
Mexico.  The  future  is  too  full  of  hope,  to  admit 
of  such  sombre  forebodings  as  we  have  been  favor¬ 
ed  with  by  the  chairman  of- the  committee.  Every¬ 
thing  would  seem  to  point  to  the  wisdom  of  con¬ 
fining  ourselves  to  the  only  subject  now  before 
us — the  pressing  and  immediate  wants  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment. 

If,  sir,  I  have  shown,  as  I  trust  I  have,  that  the 
Government  will  require  a  loan  to  thd  extent  of 
but  sixteen  millions  of  dollars  to  supply  the  exist¬ 
ing  deficiency  in  the  treasury,  the  question  remains 
to  be  considered,  on  what  terms,  and  in  what 
manner  it  ought  to  be  authorized?  I  will  remark 
preliminarily,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  it  is  our  plain 
duty,  in  raising  means  to  so  large  an  amount, 
to  take  care  that  it  be  done  with  as  little  possible 
injury  to  the  great  business  relations  of  the  coun¬ 
try.  If,  in  authorizing  the  negotiation  of  this  loan, 
we  can  direct  it  to  be  effected  in  a  manner  which, 
by  admitting  of  a  gradual  instead  of  a  sudden  ab¬ 
sorption  of  capital,  and  which,  by  furnishing  to 
the  country,  not  a  circulation  or  a  currency,  but  a 
convenient  instrument  of  transfer  and  exchange, 
will  be  less  likely  to  be  accompanied  with  any  se¬ 
rious  injury  or  embarrassment,  I  maintain,  that 
it  is  our  plain  duty  to  follow  that  course  in  directing 
its  issue.  Sir,  I  am  satisfied  that  such  effects  will 
be  far  more  likely  to  follow  from  adopting  the  plan 
recommended  by  the  minority  of  the  committee 
than  from  that  which  I  fear  it  is  the  deliberate  in¬ 
tention  of  the  responsible  majority  of  this  House 
to  force  upon  the  Government.  What  are  the 
grounds  of  objection  to  treasury  notes  ?  The  only 
one  which  has  been  urged  with  any  degree  of 
plausibility  is  their  liability  to  become  a  depreci¬ 
ated  currency,  tending  to  drive  our  specie  abroad, 
and  to  inflate  prices.  Treasury  notes  are  in  no 
sense  of  the  word  currency  or  circulation.  They 
are  not  payable  on  demand,  and  are  invariably 
upon  interest.  As  well  might  we  contend  that  the 
bills  of  exchange  and  promissory  notes  of  the  com¬ 
mercial  world  were  a  part  of  the  paper  money  of 
the  country.  It  has  also  been  attempted  to  draw 
an  argument  in  support  of  the  supposed  perni¬ 
cious  effects  of  treasury  notes  from  the  continental 
money  of  the  Revolution  and  from  what  occurred  in 
respect  to  similar  issues  in  the  last  war.  There  is 
no  parallelism  in  the  cases.  In  our  first  great  con¬ 
test,  the  credit  of  the  Government  was  issued  in 
the  form  of  and  as  paper  money.  We  could  scarcely 
be  said  to  have  then  had  a  currency  at  all.  In  the 
war  of  1812,  it  is  well  known  that  there  was  a 


5 


universal  suspension  of  specie  payments  through¬ 
out  the  whole  country,  with,  I  believe,  a  solitary 
exception.  All  currency  was  then  necessarily  de¬ 
preciated;  and  it  is  no  matter  of  surprise  that, 
with  the  ordinary  revenues  of  the  Government  de¬ 
stroyed,  and  its  expenses  so  suddenly  and  largely 
increased,  its  credit  should  have  been  seriously 
impaired.  Its  stocks  and  treasury  notes  were  both 
depreciated  to  a  large  extent,  although,  I  believe, 
at  all  times  the  latter  commanded  higher  prices  in 
the  market  than  the  former.  What  is  our  present 
situation  in  this  respect?  We  have  accruing  an¬ 
nual  revenues  to  the  amount  of  between  thirty-four 
and  thirty-five  millions  of  dollars.  The  amount 
of  treasury  notes  to  be  at  any  time  outstanding, 
under  all  issues,  is  confined  to  twenty  milions  of 
dollars.  It  is  known  to  all  that  these  treasury 
notes  are  at  all  times  receivable  in  payment  of  the 
public  dues;  how,  then,  is  there  a  possibility  of 
any  serious  depreciation  in  their  value  when  the 
amount  of  their  issue  is  thus  carefully  limited? 
The  conviction  that  such  cannot  be  the  case  be¬ 
comes  conclusive,  when  we  consider  that  these 
same  notes  may  at  any  time  be  funded  in  a  Gov¬ 
ernment  six  per  cent,  stock. 

I  am  fully  satisfied,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  we  may 
safely  issue  the  full  amount  of  treasury  notes 
which  it  is  now  proposed  to  authorize,  and  which 
will  not,  in  addition  to  those  as  well  now  outstand¬ 
ing  as  those  which  can  be  issued  by  law,  amount  to 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars,  without  producing 
any  sensible  embarrassment  in  the  monetary  affairs 
of  the  country.  I  sincerely  believe  that  such  an 
issue  would  have  a  beneficial  effect  upon  our  busi¬ 
ness  operations,  affording  not  only  increased  facili¬ 
ties  of  remittance,  but  the  conveniency  of  temporary 
investments,  at  all  times  so  desirable  in  our  large 
commercial  cities.  Under  so  benign  an  operation, 
the  transfer  of  this  large  amount  of  capital  from 
its  present  channels  into  the  stock  of  the  Govern¬ 
ment  would  be  gradual,  Sind  its  effects,  to  a  great 
extent,  innocuous.  The  chairman  of  the  Commit¬ 
tee  of  Ways  and  Means  has  condemned  the  issu¬ 
ing  of  treasury  notes  for  so  large  a  portion  of  the 
twenty-three  million  loan,  on  the  ground  that,  be¬ 
ing  now  worth  less  than  specie,  as  he  avers,  they 
are  flowing  back  into  the  treasury  (to  quote  his 
own  words)  “  in  payment  of  all  Government  de¬ 
mands,  and  thus  the  Government  is,  or  shortly 
must  be,  unable  to  meet  its  engagements  in  spe¬ 
cie.”  No  such  event  has  occurred,  or  is  likely  to 
occur.  Treasury  notes  have  in  no  instance  been 
disposed  of  by  the  Government  at  less  than  their 
par  value.  It  must  be  remembered,  too,  that  all 
these  treasury  notes  now  coming  back  upon  the 
Government,  are  reissuable — a  fact  which  the  chair¬ 
man  of  the  committee  seems  to  have  forgotten. 
There  is  nothing  in  the  present  appearance  of 
monetary  affairs,  to  justify  the  apprehension  that 
treasury  notes  will  not  hereafter  be  kept  at  par. 
But  it  has  been  asked,  in  what  manner  is  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  to  be  benefited  by  the  proposed  plan  of 
issuing  treasury  notes,  seeing  that  the  amount  of 
all  issues  is  restricted  to  twenty  millions  of  dollars, 
and  that  the  treasury  notes  now.outstanding,  with 
those  remaining  to  be  issued  under  previous  laws, 
exceed,  in  the  aggregate,  the  sum  of  nineteen  mil¬ 
lions  five  hundred  thousand  dollars?  The  expla¬ 
nation  is  a  simple  one.  Of  the  large  amount  of 
treasury  notes  which  is  now  outstanding,  amount¬ 
ing  to  nearly  fifteen  millions,  a  very  considerable 


portion  will  be  converted  into  stock,  under  the 
provisions  of  the  law.  This  funding  process  is 
constantly  going  on.  For  every  dollar  of  treasury 
notes  thus  funded,  the  plan,  as  proposed  by  the 
minority  of  the  committee,  will  authorize  the  issue 
of  an  equivalent  in  treasury  notes,  the  amount  of 
which  upon  the  market  may  thus  be  kept  at  the  pro¬ 
posed  limit,  reissuing  as  fast  as  notes  are  returned, 
until  the  whole  or  the  chief  part  of  the  amount  is 
absorbed  into  stock.  The  amount  of  treasury 
notes  funded  from  the  1st  day  of  October  last  to 
the  7th  day  of  the  present  month,  is  $3,524,654 — 
giving  a  monthly  average  in  this  respect  of  over 
$800,000.  This  process  has  been  continued  during 
a  period  when  the  money  market  on  the  seaboard 
has  been  very  restricted;  when  the  rate  of  interest 
has  never  been  less  than  from  eight  to  ten  per  cent, 
a  year,  and  when  it  has  often  been  impossible  to 
negotiate  undoubted  commercial  paper  except  upon 
terms  far  less  favorable.,  No  more  satisfactory 
evidence  could  be  given  of  the  high  value  set  upon 
the  credit  of  the  Government,  than  a  steady  pro¬ 
cess  of  investment  like  this  in  its  stocks,  made 
under  circumstances  apparently  so  unpropitious. 
I  have  no  doubt,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  when  the 
loan  we  are  now  discussing  shall  be  brought  into 
the  market,  it  will  be  an  object  of  equally  favor¬ 
able  consideration. 

Mr.  DUER  inquired  if  he  was  to  understand  his 
colleague  to  predict  that  the  loan  would  be  taken 
at  par? 

Mr.  NICOLL,  in  reply,  said:  I  have  every  rea¬ 
son  to  believe  that  such  will  be  the  case,  if  the  plan 
presented  by  the  minority  of  the  committee  shall 
be  adopted.  I  hope  the  Government  may  succeed 
in  effecting  the  loan  on  equally  favorable  terms, 
even  if  we  are  compelled  to  accept  the  bill  as  re¬ 
ported  by  the  committee.  In  that  event,  however, 
the  responsibility  must  rest  with  gentlemen  on  the 
other  side  of  the  House  in  case  of  a  failure  to  get 
the  money  at  par. 

Mr.  N.  continued  his  remarks. 

I  do  not  share  in  the  apprehensions  of  those  who 
appear  to  think  that  this  loan  cannot,  under  any  cir¬ 
cumstances,  be  negotiated  at  par.  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  believe  that  the  situation  of  the  country  i3 
so  gloomy  as  it  is  represented  by  many.  I  can  see 
no  substantial  causes  for  any  drawback  to  our 
prosperity.  The  results  of  the  last  year  have  been 
most  gratifying.  There  never  has  been  a  season 
when  our  exports  have  been  larger,  or  when  they 
have  been  made  at  more  remunerating  prices. 
There  has  been  no  excess  of  imports  of  merchan¬ 
dise,  and  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  specie  im¬ 
ported  has  been  coined  into  our  money,  and  gone 
into  the  thousand  channels  of  circulation  through¬ 
out  the  country.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  for  some 
time  past,  a  severe  pressure  has  existed  in  our  com¬ 
mercial  cities  on  the  seacoast,  produced  not  by 
natural  causes  arising  at  home,  but  by  an  artificial 
state  of  affairs  in  Europe,  created  by  the  immense 
efforts  made  on  the  other  side  of  the  water  to  get 
back  their  coin,  and  to  turn  the  exchanges  in  their 
favor.  The  effects  of  these  causes  have  been  felt 
with  peculiar  severity  by  the  merchants  and  cap¬ 
italists  of  the  seaboard.  Bills  of  exchange  to  a 
vast  amount  drawn  against  produce  exported  have 
been  dishonored  on  the  other  side,  and  new  remit¬ 
tances  been  necessarily  sent  to  supply  their  place. 
The  losses,  too,  on  shipments  of  produce  have'been 
large,  falling  in  a  very  great  degree,  not  on  the  pro- 


6 


ducer,  but  the  shipper.  Money,  too,  lias  been 
drawn  from  our  banks  upon  foreign  credit,  thrown 
upon  the  market,  and  sold  at  the  existing  high  rates. 
All  these  causes  have  combined  in  producing  a 
stricture  upon  the  money  market  in  our  Atlantic 
cities  greater  than  has  been  known  for  several 
years.  How  nobly  this  crisis  has  been  met,  how 
uniformly  engagements  have  been  honored,  despite 
the  pressure,  and  the  proof  thus  given  to  the  world 
of  the  healthy  state  of  our  mercantile  credit  and 
commerce,  I  need  not  stop  to  say.  But  the  tide 
has  already  turned.  The  low  rate  of  interest  in 
Great  Britain,  compared  with  the  value  of  money 
here,  must,  under  the  natural  laws  of  trade,  bring 
back  to  us  the  capital  which  had  gone  under  the 
operation  of  the  causes  alluded  to.  It  is  the  opin¬ 
ion  of  many  sound  financial  men,  that,  in  a  few 
months,  the  rate  of  interest  here  will  not  exceed 
five  per  cent.  Be  this  a$  it  may,  Mr.  Chairman, 
there  is  every  reason  for  thinking  that  our  Gov¬ 
ernment  securities  will  henceforth  be  kept  steadily 
above  par. 

I  have  said  that  this  pressure  in  monetary  affairs 
has  been  confined  to  our  commercial  cities.  It  is 
true,  perhaps,  that  it  has,  in  some  portions  of  the 
country,  extended  itself  into  the  manufacturing 
districts;  but  in  such  cases,  I  apprehend,  it  will  be 
found  to  have  been  mainly  caused  by  larger  invest¬ 
ments  than  usual  within  the  year  in  fixed  capital, 
and  by  their  necessary  connection  with  the  com¬ 
merce  of  the  seaboard.  The  agricultural  portions  of 
our  country,  the  great  producers  and  consumers  of 
the  nation,  have  known  nothing  but  prosperity. 
The  profits  on  the  last  year’s  vast  exports  have 
not  been  arrested  in  the  hands  of  the  moneyed  in¬ 
terest  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  but  have  chiefly  gone 
into  the  pockets  of  those  to  whom  they  rightfully 
belonged — the  farmers  of  the  country.  I  venture 
to  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  no  pecuniary  distress 
or  stricture  has  existed  among  them.  The  returns 
of  our  banks  show  a  large  indebtedness  from  the 
cities  to  the  country,  so  unlike  what  has  been  the 
case  in  former  years;  and  the  excess  of  our  exports 
over  our  imports  furnishes  gratifying  proof  that 
there  has  been  no  overtrading  with  the  interior. 

It  is  apparent  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  if  any 
difficulty  should  be  found  to  exist  in  the  negotiation 
of  the  proposed  loan  with  the  capitalists  of  our 
cities — although  I  do  not  apprehend  that  such  will 
be  the  case — the  proper  course  to  be  pursued  would 
be  to  offer  it,  in  small  sums,  to  those  in  the  coun¬ 
try  who  have  money,  and  by  whom,  I  believe,  it 
would  be  readily  taken,  as  a  desirable  and  secure 
investment.  In  my  own  city,  (New  York,)  a  plan 
like  this  was,  several  years  ago,  pursued  in  regard 
to  the  stock  created  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  in 
the  Croton  water,  and  was  attended  with  entire 
success.  By  this  course,  any  combination  or  mo¬ 
nopoly,  on  the  part  of  capitalists,  might  be  effectu¬ 
ally  avoided. 

I  think,  for  these  reasons,  Mr.  Chairman,  that 
the  injury  to  the  business  operations  of  the  coun¬ 
try,  which,  it  has  been  stated,  would  be  likely  to 
be  caused  by  the  negotiation  of  this  loan,  have 
been  greatly  overrated.  Let  it  be  remembered,  too, 
that  the  amount  asked  for  will  not  be  required  at 
once,  nor  in  sums  greater,  as  I  believe,  than  three 
millions  a  month;  that  a  very  large  portion  of  it 
is  needed  for  the  payment  of  contracts  here,  and 
that,  in  all  probability,  no  very  considerable  part 
of  the  loan  will  be  expended  out  of  the  country. 


I  ought  to  mention  here  another  advantage  which 
will  attend  the  issue  of  treasury  notes.  For  every 
dollar  required  to  be  expended  in  Mexico,  treas¬ 
ury  notes,  which  are  understood  to  be  above  par 
in  that  country,  might  be  most  advantageously 
disposed  of  there,  where  they  are  eagerly  sought 
fo  r  as  a  desirable  mode  of  remittance.  The  objec¬ 
tion  that  they  would  be  returned  upon  us,  and  the 
speciedrawn  upon  them  and  sentoutof  thecountry, 
is  untenable  under  the  present  rates  of  exchange, 
which  are  not  likely  to  be  less  favorable  for  some 
time  to  come. 

I  propose  now,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  say  a  few 
words  on  the  subject  of  additional  revenue,  which 
I  am  pursuaded  ought  to  be  voted  fearlessly,  and 
without  regard  to  consequences.  For  nearly  two 
years  we  have  bee.n  engaged  in  a  foreign  war, 
necessarily  carried  on  at  an  efiormous  expense, 
and  without  thus  far  imposing  a  single  additional 
burden  upon  the  people — an  example,  I  undertake 
to  say,  unparalleled  in  the  history  of  warfare. 
Thanks  to  our  abundant  resources  and  our  high 
credit,  we  have  been  able  thus  far  to  do  this  v  ithout 
difficulty;  but  the  time  has  now  come  when  it 
should  occupy  the  serious  consideration  of  every 
member  on  this  floor — whether  we  shall  continue 
in  a  course  which  is  ultimately  calculated  to  be  pro¬ 
ductive  of  financial  embarrassment  to  the  Govern¬ 
ment.  Our  ability  to  meet  our  engagements,  our 
determination  to  preserve  the  national  credit  un¬ 
tarnished,  cannot  and  should  not  be  doubted.  We 
owe  it  to  ourselves,  to  our  constituents,  to  their 
'  posterity,  to  take  care  that  the  large  debt  which, 
under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  must  be 
incurred  in  the  prosecution  of  this  war,  should 
be  redeemed  within  a  reasonable  time.  I  trust 
there  is  not  a  gentleman  on  this  floor  who  does  not 
regard  the  existence  of  a  large  national  debt  as  a 
national  evil,  and  who  is  not  convinced  that  a  fund¬ 
ing  system,  unaccompanied  with  provisions  for 
ultimate  and  early  redemption  of  the  principal,  is 
calculated  to  throw  the  labor  of  the  country  at  the 
feet  of  our  own  and  foreign  capitalists.  Believing 
that  the  early  redemption  of  our  debt  is  required 
by  every  consideration  of  national  honor  and  in¬ 
terest,  I  shall  support  the  recommendation  of  the 
Executive  for  the  tax  as  proposed  by  him  on  tea 
and  coffee.  As  between  indirect  and  direct  taxa¬ 
tion,  my  preferences  are  in  favor  of  the  latter.  I 
believe  all  taxation,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  be  an  evil, 
and  I  think  a  greater  service  could  not  be  rendered 
to  the  people  than  to  make  them  know  and  feel  it 
is  such.  On  this  subject  I  speak  for  no  one  but 
myself.  I  know,  indeed,  that  the  sentiments  of 
this  side  of  the  House  are  on  this  great  subject 
divided;  but  I  am  pursuaded  that  when  it  shall  be 
fully  and  thoroughly  discussed  before  the  intelligent 
masses  of  our  citizens,  they  will  not  hesitate  to  give 
their  judgment  in  favor  of  a  system  of  direct  taxa¬ 
tion,  as  one  which  will  ensure  a  greater  interest  on 
the  part  of  the  people  in  the  affairs  of  Government, 
and  a  wise  economy  on  the  part  of  their  agents  in 
the  expenditure  of  the  public  revenues.  That  time, 
I  hope  add  believe,  is  rapidly  approaching.  I  know 
that,  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  meaning  of 
direct  taxation,  there  are  involved  great  difficulties 
as  to  the  imposing  it  with  fairness  and  equality, 
growing  out  of  the  fixed  rule  of  the  Constitution 
requiring  such  taxes  to  belaid  in  proportion  to  the 
ratio  of  representation,  which  is  so  different  in  most 
Slates  from  the  ratio  of  property  and  wealth.  I 


believe  that  these  difficulties  may  be  in  a  great 
measure  obviated,  if  not  removed;  but  I  have  not 
time,  nor,  perhaps,  is  it  fitting,  that  I  should  now 
enter  upon  a  discussion  which  must  necessarily 
embrace  so  wide  a  range.  Perhaps  on  some  future 
occasion,  the  opportunity  may  be  presented  of 
giving  my  views  at  length  on  this  interesting  sub¬ 
ject.  I  will  only  say,  Mr.  Chairman,  that  in  -voting 
for  a  tax  on  tea  and  coffee,  1  admit  to  a  certain  ex¬ 
tent  the  inequality  of  its  operation,  although  I  sin¬ 
cerely  believe  that  its  burdens  have  been  most 
unnecessarily  exaggerated.  Nor  do  I  think  that 
when  our  patriotic  people,  who  have  declared  so 
earnestly  in  favor  of  a  war,  which  has  covered 
their  country  with  glory,  are  made  to  understand 
that  additional  taxation  is  necessary  to  maintain 
our  credit,  they  will  not  cheerfully  consent  to  it. 
To  believe  otherwise,  would  be  to  degrade  and  dis¬ 
grace  them.  I  vote  for  this  tax,  because  it  can  be 
at  once  collected,  and  with  no  considerable  increase 
of  expense.  The  complex  machinery  of  our  cus¬ 
tom-houses  is  in  successful  operation,  and  a  duty 
on  tea  and  coffee  would  be  levied,  and  the  money 
obtained  and  paid  into  the  treasury,  without  any 
delay,  and  without  additional  force.  To  design  and 
perfect  a  system  of  direct  taxation,  is  a  work  of 
time,  and  should  not  be  attempted  except  upon  the 
most  mature  consideration,  and  with  the  under¬ 
standing  that  it  is  not  to  be  collateral  with  our  sys¬ 
tem  of  taxation  upon  articles  of  consumption;  but 
is  intended  to  supplant  it,  and  to  be  the  only  mode 
of  collecting  revenues  for  the  expenses  of  Govern¬ 
ment.  So  great  a  change  as  this  is  not  the  work 
of  a  day;  nor  should  it,  in  my  opinion,  take  place 
except  in  a  time  of  peace,  when  the  energies  of 
every  department  of  the  Government  may  beunited 
in  bringing  it  to  perfection. 

I  have  thus,  Mr.  Chairman,  given  my  views 
explicitly  and  at  length,  in  respect  to  the  mode 
which  ought  to  be  pursued  in  negotiating  this 
loan,  and  in  providing  immediate  additional  rev¬ 
enue.  In  doing  so,  I  believe  I  have  but  expressed 
what  is  well  known  to  be  the  wishes  of  the  Ad¬ 
ministration  and  their  friends,  the  minority  of  this 
House.  Let  me  now,  in  a  spirit  of  frankness  and 
candor,  call  upon  the  honorable  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  to  come  forward 
and  state  in  what  manner  that  gentleman  and 
his  political  friends  are  willing  to  replenish  the 
national  treasury.  >  The  course  intended  to  be 
pursued  on  this  side  of  the  House,  in  this  import¬ 
ant  matter,  will  be  open  and  manly.  Can  we  dare 
to  hope  that  it  will  be  equally  so  with  gentlemen 
on  the  other  side?  Sir,  has  there  not  been  some 
hidden  reason  for  this  gloomy,  this  labored  and 


over-wrought  picture  of  our  financial  position? 
Has  it  been  all  for  nothing,  that  we  have  been 
again  and  again  called  upon  to  mourn  over  diffi¬ 
culties  and  embarrassments,  which  have  been  con¬ 
jured  up  on  the  other  side,  and  which  have  no  real 
existence,  save  in  their  imagination?  I  charge 
upon  the  majority  a  deliberate  purpose  in  those 
earnest  attempts  to  overrate  our  necessities:  Latet 
anguis  in  hcrba.  I  see  in  it  all  the  “  foregone  con¬ 
clusion”  of  a  high  protective  tariff.  Ardent  and 
sincere,  as  I  honestly  believe  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  to  be,  in  his  ad¬ 
vocacy  of  such  a  system,  it  is  most  significant  that 
he  did  not  venture  to  make  it  a  distinct  point 
in  opening  this  debate.  It  was  hinted,  but  not 
pressed  ;  and  all  that  the  honorable  gentleman 
did  in  this  respect  was  but  to  express  his  belief — 
I  quote  the  gentleman’s  own  words — “that  the 
‘  Government  will  be  compelled,  under  the  pressure 
‘  of  its  necessities,  to  abandon  its  mischievous  free- 
‘  trade  policy ,  and  to  come  back  to  the  protection  of 
‘  the  home  labor  of  the  country,  as  the  only  sure 
‘  foundation  of  public  prosperity,  and  of  abundant 
‘  supply  of  revenue.”  And  is  this  the  course 
which  the  majority  are  determined  to  pursue?  Do 
they  really  believe  that  the  great  Democratic  party 
of  this  country  are  prepared  to  abandon  a  system 
which  has  been  so  productive  of  revenue,  and  which 
has  contributed  so  much  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
nation?  Human  credulity  cannot  be  tasked  to  this 
extent.  No,  sir;  if  such  an  issue  is  to  be  made, 
the  responsibility  of  the  initiative  must  rest  with 
the  majority  in  this  House.  I  do  not  believe  it  will 
now  be  taken.  The  experience  of  the  past  is  too 
significant;  the  events  of  the  future  too  uncertain; 
and,  more  than  all,  the  elements  of  the  majority 
are  too  discordant,  to  permit  this  issue  to  be  made 
at  present  by  the  other  side.  ,  If,  however,  we  are 
wrong  in  this,  it  need  scarcely  .be  said  that  the 
minority  of  this  House  are  ready  and  willing  to 
go  before  the  country  on  such  an  issue.  The  de¬ 
liberate  judgment  of  the  people  has  condemned  the 
protective  system  in  every  form  and  shape;  and 
their  convictions  in  this  matter  are  not,  under  any 
circumstances,  likely  to  be  changed.  But,  how¬ 
ever  unprepared  or  unwilling  our  opponents  may 
now  be  to  renew  the  old  agitation,  there  is  much 
reason  for  believing  that  it  is  their  settled  purpose 
to  do  so  as  soon  as  a  favorable  opportunity  shall 
present  itself.  Come  when  the  contest  may,  it 
will  not  find  the  Democratic  party  unprepared;  but 
the  battle,  when  next  fought,  will,  I  venture  to  pre¬ 
dict,  take  a  higher  ran°:e;  and  the  issue  made  will 
be,  not  as  between  high  and  low  duties,  but  as  be- 
ween  protection  and  direct  taxation. 


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